Australian jailed for 20 years in Vietnam

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An Australian woman of Vietnamese origin has been sentenced to
20 years jail in Vietnam after being convicted of trying to smuggle
558 grams of heroin into Australia, a court official said
today.

Tran Thi Hong Loan, 33, was given the jail term Friday after a
half-day trial, according to Ly Ngoc Hai, a court official from Ho
Chi Minh City Peoples Court.

"The people's procuracy proposed a death sentence, but because
she has a one-month-old baby, the sentence was reduced to 20
years," Hai said.

Loan was arrested in August 2004 as she tried to board a flight
to Australia.

The court official said 440 grams of heroin was found in a can
of hair spray, and the rest was discovered in a body cavity.

The woman told police that she had been paid $US10,000
($A13,290) to bring the heroin from Vietnam into Australia, said
Hai.

Under Vietnamese law, the death sentence can be applied in cases
involving more then 100 grams of heroin, however, it is usually
only applied in cases involving more than 600 grams of the highly
addictive drug.

There are nine Australian citizens and one Australian resident
currently in prison in Vietnam on drugs charges.